The overall figures underline the intensity of current competition for places, showing that one in three candidates missed out on university this autumn.

The Ucas figures also illustrate private schools' enduring dominance of elite universities – 19,000 of the 92,000 candidates accepted by the Russell group of highly competitive universities, which includes Oxford and Cambridge, were from independent schools.

This compares with 24,400 from comprehensive schools and a further 10,600 from sixth-form colleges.

More than 21,000 successful Russell group candidates got at least one A* grade at A-level.

In this year's A-level results, private school pupils were three times as likely to achieve the highest grade.

Candidates in London and the south-east also did disproportionately well in securing the A*.

Just four of the 20 Russell group universities used it in making offers for this year – Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and Warwick – but others, including Bristol and LSE, will follow suit next year.

The news of the rise in numbers from working-class backgrounds was welcomed, but concerns were raised that plans to raise tuition fees to as much as £9,000 a year could reverse the shift.

Attempts to widen participation could be dealt a further blow as the government looks set to scrap the national programme to get working-class teenagers into English universities.

But ministers believe universities should run their own programmes to widen access.

Asked in the Commons about the future of Aimhigher, universities minister David Willetts said: "What I can guarantee is that we will place on universities an obligation to achieve the things that were previously being achieved by [these] kind of schemes.

"That, we think, is the best place for the obligation to fall, and we are looking carefully at the best and most effective way in which that can be done, but it should be for individual universities to come up with their proposals for how they can best improve access."

Commenting on the Ucas figures, Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), warned that higher fees could reverse the trend of more teenagers from poorer backgrounds going to university.

"I cannot see this continuing with the introduction of higher university fees," he said.

"Universities must remain accessible and affordable for students of all backgrounds.

"This is one of the great successes of the UK education system in recent years. It will be a travesty if university fees discourage less well-off students from attending university, but this is likely to be the reality."

He said: "It will also be crucial to communicate the new arrangements clearly – under the proposals, students will pay nothing up front, will only start making repayments once they are earning £21,000, and then will actually pay back less per month, albeit over a slightly longer period, than they do under the existing system.

"If these messages do not get through loud and clear, there is a very real risk that the numbers of disadvantaged students who believe that they 'can't afford to go to university' will grow, reversing the positive trend in participation that we have seen over recent years."

The Ucas data showed that 69.6% of applicants got a place, with 209,253 of a total of 688,310 candidates missing out as demand increased faster than places. Last year the acceptance rate was 75.3%.

More than 94,000 of those who were unplaced this summer either declined all their offers or voluntarily withdrew from the applications process.

The figures also show a slight dip in the number of UK students accepted, alongside a 3% increase in the number of overseas students, who are charged much higher fees.

There was a 7% increase in the number of students from other EU countries accepted to university.

The University and College Union (UCU) predicted a tougher battle than ever for places next year, as record numbers – including many of those who lost out this year – try to get to university before higher fees are introduced.

Sally Hunt, the union's general secretary, said: "Despite the coalition's best efforts to persuade the public that its plans for university funding are based on fairness, students and their families are not stupid.

"The government has made it clear that the cost of a degree is set to rocket, despite pre-election promises from some ministers and all Liberal Democrat MPs that they would fight for the abolition of university fees.

"We now await the inevitable scramble as students try to secure a university place before the punitive higher fees regime is introduced in 2012.

"Those students will, of course, will be competing with the 200,000-plus people who missed out this summer."